Page 108 of What Started In Deception

And then there was silence—a horrible, heavy silence as Lydia stared at the ground, pressing her hand to her stomach, still trying to catch up with the last few minutes.

Will and Mac had always been so close—so sympatico. They’d clicked from the first moment that she’d introduced them almost seven years ago. On the rare occasion that things had gotten a little rough, she’d always been the first person Mac had called. It shocked her that she’d been on the compound for days, and Mac had never said a thing. “I’m going inside,” she heard herself say.

Ty nodded. “I’ll be in shortly.”

She nodded this time, heading for the house and immediately up the stairs, wasting no time getting into the shower. She washed her body, then her hair, reaching for the bottle of conditioner as she stared at the tile while her mind raced.

What did all of this mean? Why hadn’t Mac told her what was going on? Was Will keeping secrets? Did those secrets have anything to do with Richard Russo?

Rinsing her hair, she turned off the water and got out, wrapping herself in a towel. She applied her night cream and brushed her teeth on autopilot before she put on her pajama shorts and cami top.

Eager to get into bed, she pulled back the covers and lay down, shaken in a way that she hadn’t been since Ty showed up with his badge all those weeks ago.

Ty hurried back down the beach steps and closer to the water as he pulled his phone from his shorts, finding Nick’s number as he turned to look at the main house. Instead of texting, he called.

“Yeah,” Nick answered on the second ring.

“Hey. Will and Mackenna Monroe just had one hell of a knock-down, drag-out.”

“What about?”

“She thinks he’s cheating.”

“Well, that’s interesting. We haven’t seen any evidence of infidelity. Surveillance hasn’t spotted him with another woman at any point since we started watching.”

“Exactly. She also accused him of being tuned out and distracted—secretive and always on his phone.”

“That’s even more interesting.”

“I agree. There’s something here. We’ve got a long way to go to prove that, but this is something. I know for a fact that Will loves his family, so what has him so preoccupied that it’s causing problems in his marriage?”

“Maybe it has something to do with work.”

Ty shook his head, knowing in his bones that this was what they’d been waiting for—the first crack. “That’s what Will tried to tell Mac, but Mac countered with the fact that he’s always been busy. She said that whatever’s going on with him is different. I’m telling you, man. This is something.”

“So, let’s follow it.”

“I’ll head to the gym in the morning and see if I can get him to talk. If I poke a little, he may want to vent. Maybe he’ll offer something up, especially since it’ll just be the two of us.”

“Sounds good. Keep me up to date.”

“Will do. I’ll reach out after he and I talk.”

“Sounds good,” Nick repeated.

He hung up and put his phone away, rubbing at the back of his neck as he headed back toward Lydia’s place, noting that the lights were off upstairs.

He clenched his jaw with the newly familiar stirrings of guilt for hearing a private moment between Will and Mac and immediately feeding it up the chain to the brass. Clearly, their marriage was in trouble, and Lydia had been upset.

“You’re doing your job,” he reminded himself as he punched in the code on the door and quietly went upstairs, heading for the shower and to brush his teeth.

Minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom in a pair of clean boxer briefs, noting that Lydia lay with her back turned to him, knowing that she wasn’t asleep.

Getting into bed, he pulled up the covers and looked at her glossy hair in the moonlight, when she usually faced him so they could chat until they were both sleepy. “Are you awake?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Are you okay?”